4. Follow-along: Set up ArgoCD
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You will:

  • create a cluster
  • run the bootstrap script
  • create an operator key
  • add the operator key as a secret to the cluster
  • check that the setup is running
  • access Sandbox
  • access ArgoCD

Create a cluster

Run a command to create a new Kubernetes cluster. For example, we're using kind to create a cluster called operator-workshop-cluster.

kind create cluster --name operator-workshop-cluster

If you have already have a cluster, you can skip this step, but take note of your cluster name so you can use it in future steps.

Run the bootstrap script

  1. Open up the cloned repository in your code editor.

  2. Run the ./bootstrap.sh script.

  3. It will prompt you to press enter several times, to ensure there are no errors at each stage

  4. At the end of the output, save the password the script returns so you can log into ArgoCD later.

Task!

Create an operator key

In a new terminal window, run the following command to create an operator key:

rover api-key create summit-2025-operator-workshop operator operator-workshop-key

Save the generated key returned, you won't be able to see it again!

Add operator key as a secret to the cluster

In a new terminal window, run the following command to add the operator key to the cluster, replacing <YOUR_OPERATOR_KEY> with the operator key you saved earlier:

kubectl -n apollo-operator create secret generic --from-literal=APOLLO_KEY=<YOUR_OPERATOR_KEY> apollo-api-key
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Check your work

To confirm that everything is working, run the following command:

kubectl get pods -A

This should return apollo-operator pods in a Running state.

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Access Sandbox

In a terminal window, run the following command to access Sandbox:

kubectl -n apollo-operator port-forward service/router-retail 4000:80

This will start a local server running on http://localhost:4000. Open it to access and run sample queries.

query Product {
  product(id: "1") {
    id
    description
    reviews {
      body
    }
  }
}
Task!

Access ArgoCD

  1. In a terminal window, run the following command to access ArgoCD:

    kubectl -n argocd port-forward service/argocd-server 8080:80

    You'll need to leave this terminal process running for the workshop.

  2. This will start a local server running on http://localhost:8080. Open it to access ArgoCD.

  3. In the browser, click Advanced then Proceed to localhost (unsafe). This is just for the workshop, not for production.

  4. Log in with the username admin and the password you saved earlier from running ./bootstrap.sh.

If you need the password again, run:

kubectl -n argocd get secrets/argocd-initial-admin-secret --template='{{.data.password}}' | base64 -d

You should now see the ArgoCD dashboard with various services running and synced.

ArgoCD dashboard

Task!
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